London-listed Delek Global Real Estate has pulled out of a £1.4bn deal to buy a large European property portfolio. Financial Times. The Times

Delek, which had hoped to buy Swiss department store Jelmoli’s property portfolio, confirmed yesterday: “This decision has been reached primarily due to the change in, and continuing uncertainty of, the global commercial property market.”

Yesterday JPMorgan lowered its forecasts for the market, estimating that valuations could drop between 12% and 15% in the next 12 months. In words that will do little to calm market jitters, JPMorgan analyst Harm Meijer commented: “The market is pricing in a crash akin to the early 1990s, with a perceived drop of 25% or more. It is not whether the markets are coming down, it is whether the drop will be 10% or 20%, and we think somewhere in the middle.”

Values had turned in the second quarter, added Peter Damesick, executive director at CB Richard Ellis, the global property agent. He said: “The key question now is how much they will fall.”